Bone marrow can repair cardiac tissue.

• Position: Stem Cells

A growth-factor chain of action that prompts bone marrow stem cells to repair cardiac tissue and reverse heart failure has been identified at the Center for Research in Cardiovascular Medicine at the University at Buffalo (N.Y.). Earlier research from this same group showed, for the first time, that injecting mesenchymal (bone marrow) stem cells into skeletal muscle increases two-fold the production of myocytes, a type of heart muscle cell.

"By thoroughly understanding the interplay of stem cells and host tissue, and characterizing stem-cell derived growth factors, it is possible to assemble a cocktail of these factors and use it for tissue repair, much like the use of insulin for diabetes patients," reports Techung Lee, senior author on both papers and associate professor of biochemistry and biomedical engineering.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess an impressive ability to produce a plethora of growth factors, most of which remain to be characterized.

The heart disease death rate has dropped significantly in the last three decades due to better treatments, resulting in large numbers of people living with heart failure. However, heart transplantation is the only therapy currently available to...